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by Kathy Morey
Put together one-pot meals using a freeze-dried base (e.g., chili) or - cheaper by far - a packet of rice- or noodle-based mix for a side dish; your dried protein (flaked tuna or chicken, or dried, browned ground round, or jerky); dried veggies; and seasonings of your choice. Gravy mixes add flavor, too.
If the mix calls for milk and/or butter, use equivalent dry milk powder and/or dry butter powder (e.g., Butter Buds).
Package the protein separately so that if spoilage should occur, it won’t ruin the rest of your meal.
At the altitudes at which I like to camp, even freeze-dried "instant" meals need cooking, simmering the one-pot dish for about 10 minutes.
Protein
Flake and dry canned, water-packed tuna and chicken on screen-covered or solid (as for fruit leather) trays. These foods dry easily and reconstitute well. I’m tempted to try this with ham, too.
Thoroughly brown and crumble ground round, maybe with onions and seasonings, as if for spaghetti sauce, then dry it on a fruit-leather tray. It dries to the consistency of coarse sand, weighs almost nothing, lasts at least a week, and reconstitutes well.
Veggies
To successfully dry vegetables, cook them thoroughly first. Easiest: get a package of frozen veggies, cook them, then spread them on screen-covered trays to dry. Forget lima beans: they never soften enough to be edible. Sliced tomatoes and sliced mushrooms dry readily and easily reconstitute with a little cooking, and are also palatable when dry.
If you don’t have a dryer, a very slow oven with the door propped open a little (to let moisture escape) will work.